Essex residents urged to sign up for faster broadband

Essex County Council has called on rural residents from across the region to sign up for new superfast broadband services.

There are currently 180,000 households throughout the county that do not receive connection speeds of at least 24 Mbps, the Essex County Standard reports.

This is the equivalent of 30 per cent of the population, which is obviously an unacceptably high figure.

In order to receive significant funding, the local authority must demonstrate a considerable demand for faster internet services within its area.

That is why the council is so desperate for people to show their support for the introduction of quicker online services and it has set a target of having 90 per cent of the county receiving superfast broadband by 2015.

Members of the Essex Federation of Small Businesses recently told EADT 24 that the council needs to "pick up its game" in sorting out the poor ADSL connections across the county.

The organisation spoke out after neighbouring Suffolk announced the awarding of a £40 million contract to a major broadband provider.